Independent PayPal Outlines Roadmap To ‘Reimagine’ Money

Michael Moore joined TechWeek Europe in January 2014 as a trainee before graduating to Reporter later that year. He covers a wide range of topics, including but not limited to mobile devices, wearable tech, the Internet of Things, and financial technology.

Mobile payments and digital wallets have taken off in a big way over the past few years as services like Apple Pay and Android Pay attract millions of users looking for a simpler way to pay and transfer money.

PayPal future

“We have a very clear focus and a clear roadmap as to where we’re going, and we’re developing faster than we ever have before,” Jo Lambert, vice president of Global Consumer Product and Engineering at PayPal told TechWeekEurope at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.

Central to this roadmap is collaboration. At MWC, PayPal was keen to talk about several new digital wallet partnerships, including one with Vodafone to launch its first ever contactless-enabled payment system.

Launching initially in Spain before expanding across Europe later this year, the new Tap and Pay service (pictured above) will use Visa’s three million contactless terminals to provide users with a quicker way to pay using their mobile device – even if the device is turned off.

“Partnerships are so important for the transformation of money,” Lambert said. “Without a doubt, we’re probably the most agnostic player in the marketplace.”

New money

The newly-independent PayPal is looking to push this vision of ‘the re-imagination of money’, as more and more consumers do away with cash and turn to digital payments.

“We’re able to utilise technology to make a meaningful difference in helping the movement and spend of money across the globe,” she added.

Much of this is expected to come from PayPal Commerce, launched to the public last month. This service could be the key to implementing the famous ‘Buy buttons’ across apps, adverts and social media posts, greatly expanding the possible reach businesses can enjoy with their customers.

Lambert describes PayPal Commerce as, “one of the next big revolutions…it’s a huge opportunity for us – the further upstream the buying process we can get, the better – for both the merchant and the consumer.”

Expanding

But the company isn’t just relying on one service to boost its user figures, having also recently revealed the expansion of PayPal One Touch, which is now active in 143 markets worldwide.

One Touch allows customer to checkout without entering a username or password, thereby removing as much friction as possible in checkouts and speeding up transactions more than ever. Lambert says that OneTouch has already seen 18m users sign up in just 10 months, and the company has also seen shopping cart abandonments fall significantly.

“It’s a really significant product experience to launch…probably one of the most transformational ones in online and mobile payments in many, many years,” Lambert said.

“We’re still about bringing buyers and sellers together…consumers and merchants are really liking it, and telling us they like it, and showing it through the sales that we’re seeing.”